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Child Dignity in the Digital World: World Congress • October 3-6, 2017

September 14, 2017

EVENTS 2017 - Convened by the Centre for Child Protection, Pontifical Gregorian University Piazza della Pilotta 4 -- Rome 3 – 6 October 2017The World Congress: The invitation-only World Congress: Child Dignity in the Digital World will bring together world leaders, politicians, experts in science and law, researchers, religious leaders, law enforcement officials, business leaders, technology innovators, leaders of civil society, and many others. The theme of the World Congress will be Cyber Protection, Cyber Education, Cyber Responsibility. It will raise international attention to online child sexual abuse and establish an important milestone on the road toward better protection of children in our digitalized society. It will provide an historic opportunity to share and exchange practices and experience while fostering cooperation with the Centre for Child Protection and the Pontifical Gregorian University on the commitment to the protection of the dignity of children. The World Congress will explore the daunting challenges faced by children today. On the final day of the World Congress, we hope that world leaders will join with Pope Francis to adopt a formal declaration or statement of action for mobilizing and unifying people and nations worldwide to seek a safer, more secure childhood for the world’s children. It is the sign of the international nature of the challenge the fact that this Congress has attracted support, economic and moral, from governments, churches, international foundations. The Purpose: Technology has changed every aspect of modern life, mostly in positive ways. Yet, there is a dark side, particularly for the world’s children and adolescents. Technology is also facilitating a host of social ills, unlike any ever seen before. Today, there are vast numbers of sexual abuse images of youth on the internet, numbers that are growing dramatically. Children are being targeted via social media for cyberbullying, grooming, sextortion and other purposes. The developing brains of younger and younger children are being bombarded with graphic, extreme pornographic images, which one researcher called “the single largest unregulated social experiment in history.” The challenges are enormous. Yet, our response must not be gloom and dismay. We must work together to seek positive, empowering solutions. This is a problem that cannot be solved by one nation or one company or one faith acting alone, it is a global problem that requires global solutions. It is a global problem that requires a global response from all relevant groups and institutions, such as governments, companies, the Church, international institutions, sports and media. The Host: The Centre for Child Protection of the Institute of Psychology of the Pontifical Gregorian University is one of the leading global institutions dedicated to the fight against sexual abuse of children and adolescents. The Centre is committed to the safeguarding and well-being of children throughout the world by promoting prevention measures against sexual and other kinds of abuse and by raising awareness and knowledge about the importance of such efforts. The Pontifical Gregorian University, originally part of the Roman College founded in 1551 by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, today has 2,700 students from more than 120 countries, most of whom are priests, seminarians or from religious orders.

Steering Committee:

Dr. Ernie Allen,

Dr. Maud de Boer Buquicchio,

Prof. Ernesto Caffo,

Fr. Federico Lombardi SJ,

Dr. Thomas Gauly,

Baroness Joanna Shields

Fr. Hans Zollner SJ

For more information, please contact:
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